OUTSET

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does outset mean? 

• OUTSET (noun)
  The noun OUTSET has 1 sense:

1. the time at which something is supposed to begin

  Familiarity information: OUTSET used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OUTSET (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The time at which something is supposed to begin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

beginning; commencement; first; get-go; kickoff; offset; outset; showtime; start; starting time

Context example:

she knew from the get-go that he was the man for her

Hypernyms ("outset" is a kind of...):

point; point in time (an instant of time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "outset"):

birth (the time when something begins (especially life))

incipience; incipiency (beginning to exist or to be apparent)

starting point; terminus a quo (earliest limiting point)

threshold (the starting point for a new state or experience)

 Context examples 

At the very outset of our meeting a great personal relief was experienced by both Van Helsing and myself.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was marked, however, at the outset by an incident which left the most sinister impression upon my mind.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It hinged from the outset upon the pince-nez.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An unfortunate quarrel between our pepper-pots marked the outset of our new stage.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“There, there, Berks, that’s all right!” cried my uncle, only too anxious to smooth things over and to prevent a quarrel at the outset of the evening.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Should it prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to follow it from the outset.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then the cake and ice cost more than Amy expected, so did the wagon, and various other expenses, which seemed trifling at the outset, counted up rather alarmingly afterward.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

So rapid had been her movements that in spite of the Tilneys' advantage in the outset, they were but just turning into their lodgings as she came within view of them; and the servant still remaining at the open door, she used only the ceremony of saying that she must speak with Miss Tilney that moment, and hurrying by him proceeded upstairs.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I had not the least belief, in the outset of this story, that the unknown was anything but a delusion of Mr. Dick's, and one of the line of that ill-fated Prince who occasioned him so much difficulty; but after some reflection I began to entertain the question whether an attempt, or threat of an attempt, might have been twice made to take poor Mr. Dick himself from under my aunt's protection, and whether my aunt, the strength of whose kind feeling towards him I knew from herself, might have been induced to pay a price for his peace and quiet.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

At the first outset, heavy, miry ground and a matted, marish vegetation greatly delayed our progress; but by little and little the hill began to steepen and become stony under foot, and the wood to change its character and to grow in a more open order.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)